Shoe-hanger.



B. CLARK.

SHOE HANGER. APPLICATlON FILED FEB. 1. 1919.

Patented July 15, 1919.

INVENTOR fi'i'flza Clark. By M ATTOH/Vf 8 @FFTQE.

BERTHA CLARK, OFBROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

SHOE-RANGER.

Specifleatlon of Letters Patent.

. Patented July 15, 19119.

Application filed February 1, 1919. Serial No 274,422.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERTHA CLARK, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of the city of New York, borough of Brookl n, in the county ofKings and State of ew York, have lnvented a new and ImprovedShoe-Hanger, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

The invention relates to apparel apparatus, and its object is to providea new and improved shoe hanger more especially designed for home use andadapted to be mounted in closets or other places to compactly support apair of shoes, slippers or similar footwear. Another object is to holdthe toe portions of the shoes or other footwear in stretched conditionthus maintaining the shape of the footwear and preventing oracking'ofthe uppers. Another object is to permit of conveniently placing theshoes in position on the shoe hanger or removing them therefrom wheneverit is desired to use the shoes.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction as hereinafter shown and described andthen specifically pointed out in the claims.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in theaccompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in whichsimilar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all theviews.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the shoe hanger with a pair of shoes inposition thereon, one of the shoes being shown broken out;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the shoe hanger;

Fig. 3 is. a perspective view of a modified form of the shoe hanger; and

Fig. 4 is a similar view of another .modified form of the shoe hanger.

The frame 10 of the shoe hanger for supporting a pair of shoes 11 ispreferably made of a piece of wire doubled up to provide an uprightshank or stem 12 formed" at its upper end into a hook 13' for engagementwith a support 14 in the form of a rod attached by suitable brackets(not shown) to the wall of a closet or the like 1n wh ch shoes are keptwhile not in use. The w1re portion forming the hook 13 is arranged toprovide a loop adapted to be engaged with a nail or other support forsupportlng a shoe hanger instead of supportin it from the rod 14, asabove explained. he shank or stem 12 is provided at its lower end withforwardly extending arms ,1 20 slightly curved upward and terminating inreturn bends 2'1 extending in opposite directions and terminating inangular portions 22 on the lower ends of shoe-holding members 23extendmg upwardly and terminating in toestretching heads 24 adapted tofit into the toe portions of the shoes 11. As illustrated in Figs. 1 and2, each of the heads 24 is made in two parts and the corresponding shoeholding member 23 is likewise made in two parts or arms 25, 26 of whichthe arm 25 forms part of the wire of which the frame is made while hearm 26 is attached at its lower end to the lower end 25. The arms 25 and26 diverge to hold the sections of the head 24 spread apart to stretchthe toe portion of the corresponding shoe 11, as will be readilyunderstood by reference to Fig. 1. The arms 25 and 26 are adapted to bemoved toward or from each other by an Sxhook 27 engagin the of the arm 1arms. Thus by moving the S hook 27 ownupward the arms 25 and 26 andtheir head sections are moved toward each other. Thus by the arrangementdescribed the toe portion of the shoe can be stretched more or less asdesired by the user. When placing a shoe 11 in position on the shoesupporting member 23 the head 24 engages the toe portion of the shoewhile the lower end of the shank 23 restsagainst the inner surface ofthe sole of the shoe as indicated in Fig. 2. It will be noticed that bythe arrangement described the shoes 11 of a pair are properly supportedside by side on the shoe hanger and the toes are kept in stretchedconditlon thus maintaining the shape of the shoes and preventingcracking of the uppers.

In the modified form shown in Fig. 3, the toe stretching heads 24 formintegral arts of the shanks 23 instead of being-ma e of wooden sections,as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. In this case the arms 26 and the S hooks 27are omitted. In order to hold the doubledup wires forming the shank 12close together one of the wires is preferably twisted around the otherwire, as indicated at 28 in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and bands 29 may befastened around the two wires forming the shank 12 to hold the saidwires together with a view to stiffen the shank, as indicated inFig.3.;

' In the modified form shown in Fig. 4, the shank 12,.instead ofterminating in a combination hook and loop 13, terminates in a screw 30adapted to be screwed into a wall or other suitable support. The shank12 in this case is preferably disposed horizontally and its forwardlyextending and upwardly curved portion 20 is engaged with the returnbends 21 terminating in the portlons 22 of the" upright shanks 23, theupper ends of which are formed into heads 24 for engagement with thetoes of the pair of shoes to be supported.

The shoe hanger shbwn and described is very simple and durable inconstruction and can be readily attached to a suitable support. A pairof low or high shoes or a pair of slippers or similar footwear ban beread ly placed in position on the hanger to support the shoes side byside without taking up much space- It will also be noticed that theshoes are supported with the toes upward and the toes are stretchedat'the sides by the heads 24. The bends 21 and the adjusting portions ofthe arms 20 and 22 projecting out of the shoes provide a hook or su|porting other articles.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A shoe hanger forsupporting a pair of shoes, compris ng upright shoe holdingmembersspaced apart and adapted to pass separately into the shoes to supportthe latter side by side in an upright position and with the toes upward,the lower ends of the supporting arms having forwardly extendingportions extending out of the shoes, and a'shank intermediate the saidshoe supporting member and connected at one end with the ends of thesaid extended portions of the arms, the other end of the said shankhaving means for engagement with a support: t

2. A shoe hanger for supporting a pair of shoes, comprising uprightshoe-holding members spaced apart and adapted to pass separately intothe shoes to support the latter side by side in an upright position andwith the toes upward, the lower ends of the supporting arms havingforwardly extending portions extending out of the shoes, the upper endsof the said shoe supporting members having two stretching heads adaptedto fit into the toes of the shoes, and a shank intermediate the saidshoe supporting member and connected at one end with the ends of thesaid extended portions of the arms, the other end of the said shankhaving means for engagement with a support,

. 3. A shoe hanger for supporting a pair of shoes, comprising uprightshoe supporting members spaced apart and adapted to as separately intothe shoes to support the latter side by side in upright position withthe "toes upWard,'ea/ch shoe supporting member'\ forwardly extendingangular portions extending out of the shoes, and a shank intermediatethe said shoe holding members and connected at one end With the outerends of the said angular portions of the shoe supportingmembers, theother end of the said shank having means-for attaching the shoe hangerto a support.

4. A 'hoe hanger shoes, comprising upright shoe-supporting membersspaced apart and adapted to pass separately into the shoes to supportthe latter side by side in upright position with the for supporting apair of toes upward, each shoe supporting member having diverging sprlngarms terminating in toe stretching heads fitting into the toe of thecorresponding shoe, the lower ends ofthe said shoe supporting membershaving forwardly extending angular portions extending out of the shoes,means for moving the said spring arms of a shoe supporting member towardor from each other, and a shank intermediate the said shoe holdingmembers and connected at one end with the outer ends of the said angularportions of the shoe supporting members, the other end of the said shankhaving means for attaching the shoe hanger to a support.

- 5. A shoe hanger for supporting a pair ,of shoes, comprising anupright shank providedat its upper end with means for suspending theshank from a suitable support, the lower end of the shank having aforwardly extending angular portion, shoe holding members having uprightportions, and forwardly extending angular portions connected with theforward end of the said angular shank'portion, andtoe stretching headson the upper ends of the said upright portions of the shoe holdingmembers and adapted to fit into the toes of the shoes to be supported. o

6. A shoe hanger for supporting a pair of shoes, comprising an uprightshank provided at its upper end with means for suspending the shank froma suitable support, the lower end of the shank having a forwardlyextending angular portion, shoe holding members having upright portionsand forwardly extending angular portions connected with the forward endof the said angular shank portion, and toe stretching heads on the upperends of the said upright upright portions of the shoe holding memturnbends,

bers resting against the inner faces of the soles of the shoes.

7. A shoe hanger for supporting a pair of shoes side by side and made ofa single piece of wire doubled up to form an upright shank provided atthe doubled up end with a loop and a hook, the shank having a lower for-Wardly extending portion terminating in reand upright shoeholdingmembers terminating in lower forwardly extending portions integrallyconnected with the said return bends.

8. A shoe hanger for supporting a pair of shoes side by side and made ofa single piece of Wire doubled up to form an upright shank provided atthe doubled up end with a loop and a hook, the shank having a lowerforwardly extending portion terminating in return bends, upright shoeholding members terminating in lower forwardly extending portionsintegrally connected with the said return bends, and toe stretchingheads on the upper ends-of the said shoe holding members.

BERTHA CLARKQ

